Comparative characteristics of Pechorin and Grushnitsky? Preferably a table. Thanks) and got the best answer
Answer from Puma[guru]
Pechorin was an aristocrat by birth and received a secular upbringing. Having left the care of his relatives, he “entered the big world” and “began to wildly enjoy all the pleasures.” He soon became disgusted with the frivolous life of an aristocrat and became bored with reading books. After the “notorious story in St. Petersburg,” Pechorin was exiled to the Caucasus. Drawing the appearance of his hero, the author with a few strokes indicates his aristocratic origin: “pale”, “noble forehead”, “small aristocratic hand”, “dazzlingly clean linen”. Pechorin is a physically strong and resilient person. He is endowed with an extraordinary mind, critically assessing the world around him. He reflects on the problems of good and evil, love and friendship, and the meaning of human life. In the assessment of his contemporaries, he is self-critical: “We are no longer capable of great sacrifices, either for the good of humanity, or even for our own happiness.” He has a great understanding of people, is not satisfied with the sleepy life of the “water society” and gives destructive characteristics to the capital’s aristocrats. Pechorin’s inner world is revealed most fully and deeply in the story “Princess Mary,” where his meeting with Grushnitsky takes place.
Grushnitsky is a cadet, he is the most ordinary young man, dreaming of love, “stars” on his uniform. Making an impact is his passion. In a new officer's uniform, dressed up, smelling of perfume, he goes to Mary. He is mediocrity, he has one weakness that is quite forgivable at his age - “to be draped in extraordinary feelings”, “a passion to recite”. He seems to be striving to play the role of a disappointed hero, fashionable at that time, “a creature doomed to some kind of secret suffering.” Grushnitsky is a completely successful parody of Pechorin. That is why the young cadet is so unpleasant to him.
With his pitiful behavior, Grushnitsky, on the one hand, emphasizes the nobility of Pechorin, and on the other, as if erasing any differences between them. After all, Pechorin himself spied on him and Princess Mary, which, of course, was not a noble act. And he never loved the princess, but simply used her gullibility and love to fight Grushnitsky.
Grushnitsky, as a narrow-minded person, at first does not understand Pechorin’s attitude towards him. Grushnitsky seems to himself to be a self-confident person, very insightful and significant: “I feel sorry for you, Pechorin,” he says condescendingly. But events are developing imperceptibly according to Pechorin’s plans. And now the cadet, overwhelmed by passion, jealousy and indignation, appears before us in a different light. He turns out to be not so harmless, capable of revenge, dishonesty and meanness. The one who just recently played at nobility is today capable of shooting at an unarmed person. The duel scene reveals the essence of Grushnitsky, shoot, I despise myself, and I hate you. If you don’t kill me, I’ll stab you at night from around the corner. There is no place for the two of us on earth... Grushnitsky rejects reconciliation Pechorin shoots him in cold blood. The situation becomes irreversible. Grushnitsky dies after drinking the cup of shame, repentance and hatred to the end.
On the eve of the duel, remembering his life, Pechorin thinks about the question: why did he live? for what purpose was he born? And then he himself answers: “Oh, it’s true, she existed, and, it’s true, I had a high purpose, because I feel immense strength in my soul.” And then Pechorin realizes that he has long been playing “the role of an ax in the hands of fate”
So, the image of Grushnitsky helps to reveal the main thing in the central character of the novel. Grushnitsky - a distorting mirror of Pechorin - highlights the truth and significance of the experiences of this “suffering egoist”.
“Hero of Our Time” M.Yu. Lermontov was published as a separate publication in St. Petersburg in the spring of 1940. The novel has become one of the extraordinary phenomena in Russian literature. This book has been the subject of numerous debates and studies for over a century and a half, and has not lost any of its vital relevance even today. Belinsky wrote about it: “Here is a book that is destined to never grow old, because, at its very birth, it was sprinkled with the living water of poetry.”
The main character of the novel, Pechorin, lived in the thirties of the nineteenth century. This time can be characterized as the years of gloomy reaction that came after the defeat of the Decembrist uprising of 1825. At this time, a man of progressive thought could not find an application for his powers. Disbelief, doubt, denial have become features of the consciousness of the younger generation. They rejected the ideals of their fathers from the cradle, and at the same time they doubted moral values as such. That's why V.G. Belinsky said that “Pechorin suffers deeply,” finding no use for the immense powers of his soul.
Creating “A Hero of Our Time,” Lermontov depicted life as it really was. And he found new artistic means, which neither Russian nor Western literature had yet known and which delight us to this day by combining a free and broad depiction of faces and characters with the ability to show them objectively, “building” them, revealing one character through the perceptions of another.
Let's take a closer look at the two heroes of the novel - Pechorin and Grushnitsky.
Pechorin was an aristocrat by birth and received a secular upbringing. Having left the care of his relatives, he “entered the big world” and “began to wildly enjoy all the pleasures.” He soon became disgusted with the frivolous life of an aristocrat and became bored with reading books. After the “notorious story in St. Petersburg,” Pechorin was exiled to the Caucasus. Drawing the appearance of his hero, the author with a few strokes indicates not his aristocratic origin: “pale”, “noble forehead”, “small aristocratic hand”, “dazzlingly clean linen”. Pechorin is a physically strong and resilient person. He is endowed with an extraordinary mind, critically assessing the world around him. He reflects on the problems of good and evil, love and friendship, and the meaning of human life. In the assessment of his contemporaries, he is self-critical: “We are no longer capable of great sacrifices, either for the good of humanity, or even for our own happiness.” He has a great understanding of people, is not satisfied with the sleepy life of the “water society” and gives destructive characteristics to the capital’s aristocrats. Pechorin’s inner world is revealed most fully and deeply in the story “Princess Mary”, where his meeting with Grushnitsky takes place.
Grushnitsky is a cadet, he is the most ordinary young man, dreaming of love, “stars” on his uniform. Making an impact is his passion. In a new officer's uniform, dressed up, smelling of perfume, he goes to Mary. He is mediocrity, he has one weakness that is quite forgivable at his age - “draping himself into extraordinary feelings”, “passion for declaiming”. He seems to be striving to play the role of a disappointed hero, fashionable at that time, “a creature doomed to some kind of secret suffering.” Grushnitsky is a completely successful parody of Pechorin. That is why the young cadet is so unpleasant to him.
With his pitiful behavior, Grushnitsky, on the one hand, emphasizes the nobility of Pechorin, and on the other, as if erasing any differences between them. After all, Pechorin himself spied on him and Princess Mary, which, of course, was not a noble act. And he never loved the princess, but simply used her gullibility and love to fight Grushnitsky.
Grushnitsky, as a narrow-minded person, at first does not understand Pechorin’s attitude towards him. Grushnitsky seems to himself to be a self-confident, very insightful and significant person: “I feel sorry for you, Pechorin,” he says condescendingly. But events are developing imperceptibly according to Pechorin’s plans. And now the cadet, overwhelmed by passion, jealousy and indignation, appears before us in a different light. He turns out to be not so harmless, capable of revenge, dishonesty and meanness. The one who just recently played at nobility is today capable of shooting at an unarmed person. The duel scene reveals the essence of Grushnitsky, shoot, I despise myself, and I hate you. If you don’t kill me, I’ll stab you at night from around the corner. There is no place for the two of us on earth... Grushnitsky rejects reconciliation Pechorin shoots him in cold blood. The situation becomes irreversible. Grushnitsky dies after drinking the cup of shame, repentance and hatred to the end.
On the eve of the duel, remembering his life, Pechorin thinks about the question: why did he live? for what purpose was he born? And then he himself answers: “Oh, it’s true, she existed, and, it’s true, I had a high purpose, because I feel immense strength in my soul.” And then Pechorin realizes that he has long been playing “the role of an ax in the hands of fate.” “The immense powers of the soul” - and small, unworthy actions of Pechorin; he strives to “love the whole world” - and brings people only evil and misfortune; the presence of noble, high aspirations - and small feelings that dominate the soul; a thirst for the fullness of life - and complete hopelessness, awareness of one’s doom. Pechorin is lonely, his situation is tragic, he is truly a “superfluous person.” Lermontov called Pechorin “a hero of his time,” thereby protesting against the romanticism of the idealized idea of a contemporary, portraying the image of Grushnitsky as a parody of romanticism. For the author, a hero is not a role model, but a portrait made up of the vices of an entire generation in their full development.
So, the image of Grushnitsky helps to reveal the main thing in the central character of the novel. Grushnitsky - a distorting mirror of Pechorin - highlights the truth and significance of the experiences of this “suffering egoist”, the depth and exclusivity of his nature. But in the situation with Grushnitsky, the whole danger lurking in the depths of this human type, the destructive force inherent in the individualistic philosophy inherent in romanticism, is revealed with particular force. Lermontov did not seek to pass a moral verdict. He only showed with great power all the abysses of the human soul, devoid of faith, imbued with skepticism and disappointment. Pechorinism was a typical disease of the time. And wasn’t it about these people that the generation of the 30s of the last century said M.Yu. Lermontov in the famous Duma:
“... We will pass over the world without noise or a trace, leaving not a fertile thought for the centuries, not for the geniuses of the work that has begun.”
In the novel “A Hero of Our Time,” the reader sees a clear contrast between two images: the main character and the cadet.
Of course, both heroes have similar character traits, such as selfishness and narcissism. But, it is impossible not to note that in Pechorin this is real, but in Grushnitsky everything is thoroughly saturated with falsehood. He is only trying to seem like a romantic hero, while Pechorin is one.
The heroes developed hostility towards each other almost immediately upon meeting in Pyatigorsk, but outwardly none of them showed it. It is impossible to call any of the characters absolutely positive or negative. Pechorin mercilessly treated Princess Mary, his longtime lover Vera and her husband just for fun. Not from some kind of internal natural malice, but only from boredom, the main character of the novel decided to fall in love with young Mary, and thereby arouse a feeling of jealousy in Grushnitsky. Pechorin is depicted by the author as a selfish and very contradictory nature. He is critical not only of the society around him, but also of himself. The main character is devoid of falsehood in his character and actions. He cannot be accused of meanness or cowardice.
Grushnitsky is depicted by M.Yu. Lermontov, as mediocrity. Junker is not as experienced in communicating with women as Pechorin, and behaves rather timidly and modestly. At first, the reader may think that Grushnitsky’s love for Mary is sincere, but later it becomes clear that this is also false. He easily slandered his beloved when he saw Pechorin next to her window, only out of wounded pride, without even trying to understand the situation.
The duel is a critical moment of confrontation between the cowardice and courage of the two characters. The young cadet Grushnitsky behaved very vilely. Together with his new friend, the dragoon captain, he decided to make the main character a laughing stock. The plan was to leave the pistols unloaded. Junker seems to be trying to prove to himself that Pechorin is not ideal, and may be experiencing fear and cowardice. Grushnitsky was waiting for an opportunity to challenge Pechorin to a duel. But by chance, the main character heard what the dragoon captain and the young cadet were talking about.
Soon an incident occurred that led to a duel. When the main character was noticed opposite Princess Mary's window, Grushnitsky publicly ridiculed him. For which Pechorin challenged him to a duel. The dragoon captain again acted as an instigator and offered to load only Grushnitsky’s pistol, thus a cold-blooded murder was planned. It was fear that pushed the young cadet to such vile actions. He was afraid of losing to Pechorin, who was superior to him in everything.
The main character, on the contrary, was not afraid of death. He proposed making the conditions of the duel even more severe, moving the duel to a cliff, so that any, even minor, wound would become fatal. Grushnitsky shot first, and only grazed Grigory’s leg. Then the main character announced that his gun was not loaded and asked to reload. Pechorin's bullet turned out to be fatal for the cadet. Grushnitsky failed to defeat Grigory, even with the help of an insidious plan. But Pechorin did not feel satisfaction from his victory over cowardice; on the contrary, his soul was heavy.
The outcome of this confrontation turned out to be very tragic: Princess Mary’s heart is broken, the lives of Vera and her husband are broken.
| Pechorin | Grushnitsky | |
| Origin | An aristocrat by birth, Pechorin remains an aristocrat throughout the novel. | Grushnitsky is from a simple family. An ordinary cadet, he is very ambitious, and by hook or by crook he strives to become one of the people. |
| Appearance | More than once Lermontov focuses attention on the external manifestations of Pechorin’s aristocracy, such as pallor, small brush, “dazzlingly clean linen.” At the same time, Pechorin is not fixated on his own appearance; it is enough for him to look neat. | Being a narcissistic dandy, Grushnitsky wants to make an impression everywhere and everywhere. Appearance is of extreme importance to him; he constantly straightens his hair, curls his mustache, and tries his best to look impressive. This quality is especially pronounced in the presence of ladies. |
| Character | A self-confident, intelligent, subtle psychologist, Pechorin is well versed in people and relationships. Talented, has an analytical mind. He doesn't mind manipulating people just for fun, he's quite cynical. Pechorin is disappointed in the ideals of the previous generation, but he has nothing to oppose them. Because of this, the hero is doomed to boredom and fatigue. | Grushnitsky is not stupid, but clearly cannot compete with Pechorin, and naively does not notice his manipulations. Tends to romanticize people, exaggerate and dramatize feelings. His disappointment in people is more parodic than sincere; he enjoys feeling like a person who has suffered “sublime passions and exceptional suffering.” |
| Attitude towards women | Despite his youth, Pechorin perfectly studied the weaker sex. For him, love is fun; he does not take relationships with the opposite sex to heart. Knowing that women like audacity, mystery and inaccessibility, he makes Princess Mary fall in love with him, only to annoy Grushnitsky. | Grushnitsky believes in love, in it he can reveal himself as a romantic and a ladies' man. His feelings for Princess Mary are sincere, although somewhat exaggerated. |
| Hero and Society | Pechorin is a prominent representative of the “cream of society.” However, he opposes himself to society, ridiculing the capital's aristocrats. Pechorin has a great understanding of people and sees all the vices of his contemporaries. | The image of Grushnitsky captures a real, contemporary type of Lermontov. In the 30s of the 19th century, disappointment in life and a certain romanticism, which were so characteristic of Grushnitsky, were in fashion. Among young people, Grushnitsky feels like he belongs among his own. |
In the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov's "Hero of Our Time" the author reveals to the reader a number of images that not only clearly demonstrate different human destinies and characters, but are also typical representatives of their time - the thirties of the 19th century. This is a difficult and contradictory time: there is discontent in the air, but almost no one is taking active action. Anyone who dares to be indignant immediately refers to the Caucasus, away from Moscow and St. Petersburg. The young generation of modern Russia, according to the author, are confused people, lost in time and space, who do not know where to apply their minds, their talent, their energy.
Pechorin and Grushnitsky are also children of their time. They have a lot in common: both are vain and proud, always strive to attract attention, be in the center of small talk and gossip, and are constantly looking for adventures on their own. Both Grushnitsky and Pechorin want to appear unique and extraordinary in the eyes of society. Thus, Grushnitsky is able to turn even a soldier’s overcoat into an attribute of smartness. “He speaks quickly and pretentiously: he is one of those people who have ready-made pompous phrases for all occasions, who are not touched by simply beautiful things and who are solemnly draped in extraordinary feelings, sublime passions and exceptional suffering. Producing an effect is their pleasure...” Pechorin also strives to make an effect - either with feigned coldness and indifference, or with passionate speeches and glances. And he succeeds in this, especially in the eyes of romantic beauties. However, these heroes do not have a real, noble life goal - they are simply bored, they do not know what to do with themselves. The words “boredom” and “boring” appear in Lermontov’s work, perhaps more often than others - as a mark of time, as a symbol of a lost generation.
Pechorin and Grushnitsky, however, are very different from each other. Despite his feigned self-confidence and excessive dandyishness, Grushnitsky turns out to be a very vulnerable person, unsure of himself, short-sighted and inexperienced in many situations. He tries to hide his weaknesses either under a soldier's overcoat or under an elaborate officer's uniform. He is ready to trust Pechorin even in matters of the heart and does not notice how he openly mocks him. The worst thing is that he turns out to be a coward, unable to resist the opinions of others, unable to accept his defeat with dignity, and a vile traitor who is ready to shoot an unarmed person.
Lermontov endows Pechorin with an extraordinary analytical mind and strong will, which help the hero to foresee and anticipate events, and predict the actions of other people. Pechorin has fun guessing the course of events and rejoices when his assumptions come true. However, he does not rejoice for long; he very soon gets bored with everything: social entertainment, the attention of young ladies, and military battles. He is bored because, thanks to his sharp mind, education, and ability to understand people, he is able to see the outcome of an event in advance. This, for example, happens with Princess Mary, whose attention Pechorin sought to attract only in order to annoy Grushnitsky, for the sake of entertainment. When he fell in love with a girl, he immediately lost interest in her, leaving her with a broken heart and without any hope of reciprocity. People are just toys for Pechorin, just an opportunity to make life more fun. Behind the hero is a string of people offended by him, broken hearts and destinies - Maxim Maksimych, Bela, Princess Mary, Vera, smugglers...
Pechorin, unlike Grushnitsky, is not blind to himself. He constantly analyzes his actions, he is honest with himself, he is able to see the inconsistency of his nature: “I have an innate passion to contradict; “My whole life has been nothing but a chain of sad and unsuccessful contradictions to my heart or reason.” Pechorin is ready to condemn himself: “I sometimes despise myself... is that not why I despise others?.. I have become incapable of noble impulses; I’m afraid to seem funny to myself.”
Although Grushnitsky introduces Pechorin as his friend, they, of course, were never friends. Pechorin admits: “I am incapable of friendship: of two friends, one is always the slave of the other, although often neither of them admits this to himself; I cannot be a slave, and in this case commanding is tedious work, because at the same time I have to deceive.” A conflict arises between Pechorin and Grushnitsky. Grushnitsky was for Pechorin the same toy, a puppet, like everyone else. And Grushnitsky’s weak character and narrow-mindedness, his narcissism and desire to look like a hero in the eyes of friends and society further aggravate the circumstances. Easily winning Mary away from Grushnitsky, Pechorin wins another bet made with himself. But does it win? The unhappy, broken fate of Mary and the death of Grushnitsky are the main prizes of this victory.
Pechorin thinks: “Why did I live? For what purpose was I born?.. And, it’s true, it existed, and, it’s true, I had a high purpose, because I feel immense strength in my soul...” Why does the author endow Pechorin with such a character, such a destiny, why does he pit him against Grushnitsky? At the beginning of the work, Lermontov himself admits: “this is a portrait made up of the vices of our entire generation, in their full development.” Without pretending to be a doctor and without offering a cure for all diseases, the author nevertheless considered it necessary to reveal the shortcomings of his contemporary society, perhaps secretly hoping that, having recognized himself, someone would think and change. Almost two centuries later, without even suspecting it, Lermontov warns us, the generation of the 21st century, about the danger of such human vices as selfishness and narcissism, cowardice and betrayal, inaction and empty wasting of life.
